The Lake
by Hunger4Righteousness
Summary: Unexpected contact from the world Megamind left behind reveals a secret fear Roxanne has. Just a one-shot.


In the middle of Lake Michigan on the deck of a boat stood a barefoot figure clothed in what appeared to be a black diver's suit with a lightning bolt insignia splashed down the front in electric blue. A wide-eyed human woman pressed close against him behind his shoulder, clasping one of his blue hands tightly in both of hers as they swayed with the rocking of the waves, watching the sky intently. It had only been a week since he'd told her the news that shook her world even more than watching his life's work shift from villain to hero, menace to defender, sweeping her up in the changes too. And sweeping her off her feet. Near them on the deck stood a mechanical suit, silent and still, bereft of the life that animated it. Its occupant was happily swimming around at the prow of the boat, practicing flips and dives not possible in his customary living space, unconcerned as he occasionally looked toward the skies as well. The blue man stood gazing heavenward with expectant curiosity he could hardly contain. Only the woman was frightened.

One week ago, the news came that his world had survived. Excitedly he'd told her his people had contacted him and sent instructions on when and how they would meet with him. Coming out the other side of the black hole that had swallowed their world, their top scientist eventually calculated his planet's new universal coordinates and decided to return for the child he and his mate had sent to Earth, presumably to be the sole survivor of their race. Now they had located him. And they wanted to see him again. And she was afraid he would go with them and not come back.

* * *

><p>As the ship descended toward the lake's surface, the two principle occupants observed the people on the small yacht silently, waiting for the necessary biological scan to be completed before attempting contact. Both very similar in build and dressed nearly identically, the more feminine person gazed down longingly at the blue man staring up into the clouds, knowing he couldn't yet see them, a slight smile parting her lips, the same color as his. Beside her, her colleague and partner looked on as well, thoughtfully observing the people who waited below, unconsciously stroking a finger over his chin as he noted the man's striking features. Hearing the scan finish its cycle, she glanced at the display of collected information and murmured in mild surprise, "He has a child."<p>

* * *

><p>Roxanne felt him squeeze her hand reassuringly, perhaps unconsciously sensing her fear as he scrutinized the overcast sky above them, and she pressed against him closer, feeling the wind off the lake ruffle her hair from behind. Despite the warm day, a chill ran down her spine. She knew he deserved the chance to know where he came from, but the unspoken presumption has always been that it would never happen. Even he had assumed his home planet was lost forever.<p>

He had been alone for so long, always an outcast, noticeably different and ostracized and mistreated because of it. When everything changed for him and his aquatic sidekick, she had hoped having a new purpose to his life as well as her love would be enough to make up for what he suffered from his differences. But now she wondered how she could have ever thought she alone could compensate for the loss of a world, a way of life he belonged to, an entire race of people he was a part of.

The sight of the large dark ship slipping through the clouds and descending slowly to hover just over the water stunned them both. She heard Minion exclaim, "Sir!" and suddenly he was gone. Megamind turned to look at her, but before he could say anything, he was gone too. She was alone on the boat in the middle of the lake.

* * *

><p>Roxanne sat huddled miserably, a blanket wrapped around her shoulders and a crumpled tissue in her hand, sniffing and trying not to let her crying get completely out of control. They'd been gone for hours, and now it was getting dark. She didn't want to leave, even after seeing the ship lift off the water and be swallowed by the clouds again just after the two friends disappeared. Having grown up on the lake under her grandfather's tutelage and more recently spending time with Megamind on his boat as well, she knew how to manage the small yacht and wasn't afraid to stay the night on the water. She just didn't know at what point she should give up hope and make her way back to the dock. Feeling foolish, she decided to wait and laid down on the bunk, pulling the blanket up to her chin, not at all sleepy. She tried to not think about steering back to shore alone.<p>

* * *

><p>"Why can't you come down to the surface?" he asked the man whose face was so familiar.<p>

"You have certain parasitic creatures of this planet… viruses, you call them… which you all carry. The risk of contamination is too great."

"But we're in contact now."

The woman spoke up next. "You underwent a minor cleansing process during transportation. Even so, we will spend a phaele in isolation when we return and submit to several system cleanses before being readmitted to the population," she told him.

The man added, "A phaele is approximately 67 of your days."

"67 days?"

She smiled warmly at his surprise, noting his facial expressions were so much like Tuadan's. "It's worth it – and far more – to see you now."

"And we will be together. The isolation won't be unbearable." The man and woman smiled at each other, sharing a look that was unmistakable.

"Do you have other children?" He realized his eyes were the same color as the woman's and thought she was very lovely. Fleetingly, the thought of having a spouse of his own race passed through his thoughts.

"Yes, but grown older than you. A daughter."

He blew out a breath and appeared slightly shocked at the news of having a sibling, while the woman indicated a monitor. "And this is your mate?"

After a pause, he answered, "Yes," wondering what Roxanne would think of him saying so. They hadn't broached the subject of long-term commitments in the year and a half since Titan's defeat. It seemed understood, but now he wasn't so sure he should have presumed.

The woman smiled down at the form on the screen. "She is experiencing a great deal of fear at the moment. But not of us." She looked back at him, thoughtful and somewhat sad, knowing he was being forced to choose between two worlds. Already knowing what his choice would be.

"Could she – Roxanne - come up here to meet you?"

The two looked at each other again. "That is not advisable at this time." The transportation and cleansing posed unacceptable risks for the extremely early gestation they'd detected, but he could not know that. They weren't even sure of his knowledge of his mate's condition.

He felt a pang of guilt leaving Roxanne alone down on the boat for so long without word of what was happening. "She's… we, uh… she's been the catalyst of a great change in my life. I owe her much… besides loving her much." Fleetingly he wondered if they understood what he meant, but he quickly dismissed it as ridiculous to even question their ability to love as deeply as he did, considering what they'd done.

The man and woman looked at each other silently again for so long, he began to wonder if they shared some direct form of communication. Or maybe it was simply that knew each other so well that words were sometimes not needed. He and Roxanne had often done the same. They turned to look at him again. "We can not invite her here. But there are certain things we can give you that will be helpful soon."

"Helpful?"

* * *

><p>Roxanne sat curled up on the deck chair, cold mist clinging to her hair as she hugged her chilly bare legs in the slowly dawning light, unable to stop herself looking around from time to time as though she might have missed its descent and the spaceship was hiding nearby in the fog. She'd barely slept. The water had grown calm during the night, but she found the lack of movement disturbing instead of soothing. The golden light of morning diffused through the mist over the water was bright and beautiful, but a black void seemed to fill her. She wondered if she was going to spend the rest of her life this way, surrounded by beauty and unable to enjoy it, emptiness that could never be filled swallowing up all her joy.<p>

How long would it take to get over him? She never would. Was it ever going to be possible to love someone else, someone merely human? She knew as soon as she thought it that she would always compare anyone else to Megamind… and find them wanting. She couldn't blame him for choosing his own world, but it made her feel small and insignificant to think he would leave her after everything they'd been through. But how could she outweigh an entire culture that was his birthright? How could he pass up the chance to go home? Back where he belonged.

Her head and heart cried out that he belonged with her, that it wasn't just some cosmic accident that brought them together. She realized it would be unbearable to see questions in his eyes for the rest of his life if he stayed… with regrets. She put her head down and tried hard not to start crying again, holding off the hot tears stinging at her eyes by pressing them against her cold knees. She listened to the water lapping at the sides of the boat, felt the deck rise and fall gently under her seat.

"Roxanne?"

She looked up and nearly jumped off the chair in a single bound, throwing herself into his arms, holding back the cry that was on the tip of her tongue. Having decided she couldn't ask him to stay and wouldn't attempt to sway his decision one iota, she clenched her teeth. He had to decide for himself. No pressure, no regrets, no blame to be placed later.

He breathed her in with a sigh before noticing she was hanging onto him with a kind of desperation. His own arms tightened around her more, feeling her whole frame taut under his hands. Why hadn't he noticed before? Kissing her cheek, he felt the tears there and heard a muffled sob. He looked at her with concern, seeing in her wide blue eyes how upset she was. So he kissed her, and one blue hand stole up to wipe the wetness away with a tenderness that tore at her heart until she couldn't hold back any more. She clutched at the smooth fabric over his chest. "Please don't leave!"

He blinked in surprise. "I'm not leaving."

She looked back blankly. "You're not?"

"No. I'm here now, aren't I?"

"I thought… you came back to say goodbye. You were gone so long."

"Oh, I'm sorry." His thumb swept away the stream of tears from the other side of her face. "Roxanne… how could I leave you?"

She swallowed hard as she gazed back at him. "But… that's your world. I don't want you to regret not going, or always wonder-"

He stopped her with another kiss that turned into several before he murmured, "_You_ are my world. Wherever you are is where I belong. Planets or galaxies or even universes aside."

Swallowing again, she closed her eyes and put her forehead against his, reaching up to stroke the back of his head. He smiled and hugged her tighter. "They knew what I would choose. There were even gifts ready for me to bring back. They'll send them down soon. But I did want to show you this one." Still holding her close, he reached down to a hidden pocket and held up between them a glowing blue object she recognized with a slight frown.

"That's just like your…"

He looked in her eyes silently for a moment. "Ye-es?" When she didn't say anything more, he asked, "Why didn't you tell me?"

Tears sprang into her eyes again and in a quavering voice she admitted, "I only just found out. Right after you told me they were coming. And I thought, oh great, it'll seem like I'm trying to keep him here. I wasn't even sure you'd believe me, considering the timing." Seeing a protest forming on his lips, she hurried on in a rush, "Even though I was afraid you'd leave, I didn't want to use this against you. I wanted you to be able to choose freely. Not just decide based on feeling an obligation to me or… anyone else. I didn't want you to be forced into a decision you might regret later."

"Roxanne." He shook his head. "I will never regret staying with you. Ever." As tears streamed down her cheeks again, he hugged her. "…Sweetheart… you really thought I'd go?"

"I didn't know! I didn't want you to, but -" her words were interrupted by a hiccup and then his lips seeking hers again, to comfort her and quiet her fears as well as her sobs.

"Never." His lips barely left hers to reassure her. "I would never leave you." Once she seemed calmer again, he gently pressed the glowing binky into her hand. "And this… this isn't an obligation. It's _us_."

She gazed at the alien object, so familiar to her from examining the one he'd kept from his own childhood. "Us..." Then she looked up at him and smiled.

"Yes. This is where two worlds meet. And I wouldn't miss that for anything."

He watched her gazing at it, turning it slowly in her fingers with a smile lifting one corner of her mouth. The love he had for her was a more overwhelming experience than he could have ever imagined it would be. It filled his thoughts, affected every decision he made, no matter how small. How could she have doubted what he would choose? He never would regret staying, and he intended to talk to her about long-term commitments as soon as possible. Taking the binky gently from her fingers and laying it on the deck chair, he muttered, "If I've done such a poor job so far convincing you of how much I love you… let me set you straight." He picked her up in his arms and carried her into the cabin, just as two small creatures appeared in the water near the boat.

"So you'll find the freshwater here to be surprisingly similar to the water on Metagon."

"Yes, that's what they told me. But I don't quite understand about the conveyance you use to move about on the areas of dry land."

"Oh! I'll show you." Minion looked up toward the deck and called out, "Sir? Sir! Can you bring us aboard?"

When nothing but silence met his request, he was about to call again until his female counterpart suddenly interrupted. "Why don't we wait a while?" With a keen feminine intuition and a little more knowledge of the situation than her new friend had, she interpreted the silence correctly. Although she was eager to find out what name her new mistress would give her, she surmised they should stay clear of the boat for a time and smiled at him. "Show me some of this 'lake' instead."

He looked back at her for a moment before he clued in. "Oh!" Chuckling slightly, he blushed and smiled, seeing her toothy grin so similar to his own smiling back. "Ah. Yes, let's go below and look around. For… a while." He cleared his throat. "You know, there is something you might be able to help me with down there that Sir and I have been working on. This lake has been invaded by a couple of non-native species and..." He stopped. "Ha! I just realized how ironic _that_ sounds!"

* * *

><p>"This is his world now." The woman stood smiling sadly at the monitor, watching the two figures on the boat. One blue finger slowly traced along the screen over her son's head. She wondered which of his physical attributes his half-human children would carry.<p>

Tuadan turned off the display, making her look at him sharply. "Nuandan, it's not the custom of either of our worlds to observe _that_ aspect of courtship."

She smiled apologetically. "Of course. You're right. I just… am glad to see him happy."

"I know. So am I. I believe he's chosen well."

"I would very much like to have met her." She sighed. "I have a feeling she chose him. Just as I chose you."

"Are you still claiming that old lie? You know it was my decision all along."

She narrowed her eyes at him playfully, "Oh I don't think so, Tuadan-ipa. And if you want this isolation to be a pleasant experience, you'd better stop your –"

Laughing, he put his head against hers and an arm around her waist. "You know I'm forever grateful you claimed me."

"Now the truth." She smiled and then asked, "Do we have to ascend? I hate to leave already." She glanced at the black screen again. They were allowed so little time for contact, but safety precautions had to be observed.

"Their detection devices still haven't breached the ship's optical cloak. We might go up and yet… keep an eye on them until it becomes necessary to leave." It was pushing the limits of the regulations, but she smiled at him gratefully.

"Thank you, Tuadan." She blinked several times. "We've hardly known him and even though he's grown now, it's still as hard to leave him behind as it was before."

"Yes," he answered solemnly. He had questioned his decision to send his only male child away many times. "I agree."

"Maybe… one day, when their child is of age to remember us, we could return again?"

"Possibly. Would you be willing to undergo the phaelen again?" They hadn't explained to their son how grueling the cleansing process was.

"You know I would. I meant it with my heart when I said it was worth it."

Tuadan agreed. "Yes, so did I." He turned the monitor back on, showing them the small yacht on the water before taking the controls that would lift the ship back into the stratosphere. "Be well, my son."


End file.
